Hair Care

I’ve never been one to cut my own hair. Maybe I was seriously scarred as a child after a bad haircutting experience, I don’t know. But I haven’t been blessed with a hair cutting talent. And I haven’t studied and learned it as a skill. I just don’t cut hair. Even with little kids, I can barely bring myself to cut bangs or even out their hair in the back. When the boys need hair cuts or it’s time to do a buzz, I let Ryan wield the clippers. I don’t even trust myself to do that.

Once in college, I had a roommate who made me cut her hair. I told her ‘No’, but she made me do it, anyway. “Just cut in a straight line starting here,” she said. Well, I cut, and it was a straight line, but it started at the level she wanted it, and by the time I got to the other side, it was about two inches shorter. She was rightfully mortified at what I had done to her hair (although it was the late 80’s and asymmetrical hair cuts could have been in back then). She called in a different roommate to fix the botched hair cut I had given her. Now WHY she didn’t just ask her in the first place instead of traumatizing me, I don’t know. So, after the haircut was fixed and even and all that, it actually looked really cute in a bob. Even though that wasn’t what she had been going for in the first place. So, really, it was my creativity that helped her get a really cute haircut, right?

Later, when on my mission in Germany, I had a companion ask me to trim her hair for her. It was very long and she just wanted me to cut off a couple of inches in the back. Oh, NO, I told her, she wasn’t going to fall for that trap again! I told her of my previous hair cutting experience, but she still persisted. Unlike the roommate, she had thin hair and I could just bunch it up in the back and cut it all at once. I did manage to do that one tiny haircut without calling in reinforcements, but I still have no desire or talent to cut hair.

So when I woke up Saturday morning so irritated with my hair that I was ready to cut it, I knew something was seriously wrong. I never cut my own hair. I make an appointment and wait for the trained professionals to do it. I mean, what if I mess it up? It’s not like I have thick bushy hair and I can afford to lose any of it. But I’ve been really irritated by the “bangs” situation here for a while, and I guess I just went over the edge. You see, I’ve been trying to figure out if I want to grow out the bangs and just push it all over to the side, or still have some bangs. I’ve tried to do the long chunk of bangs that just kind of sits to the side, but I guess that’s just not a look that my hair can master.

So. Yesterday I just got out the scissors and cut a few pieces of bangs. By myself. With my plain old scissors that are usually used for cutting off tags that I keep in the bathroom. Brave, huh? Or maybe it was just stupid. I’m realizing that they are not even, but I think I can deal with it until I get an appointment for a real haircut. I hope.